Babson Park, Mass. – May 3, 2023 – The Springfield College women's lacrosse team was clipped by Babson, 15-9, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Tournament Semifinals on Wednesday night at MacDowell Field. 

The Beavers received seven goals from Jessica Evans as they opened the second half with a 9-1 run to pull away for the victory.  Winners of four straight games, Babson improves to 11-7 while Springfield sees its season come to a close at 11-8.  The teams were playing for the seventh consecutive conference tournament and had met in each of the last six championship games from 2016-22 prior to Wednesday.

 Evans, who converted 4-of-6 free-position chances, added season highs of four ground balls and three caused turnovers for the Beavers. Graduate student Emily Curtis and sophomore Kathryn Blake  both scored twice, senior Erin Jayne added a goal and two assists and sophomore Clare Connolly led all players with 11 draw controls. Junior Eileen Manning forced four turnovers, while sophomore Kathleen Murphy turned away 10 shots in the win.

Graduate student Jade O'Connor (Baltimore, Md.) and first-year Sarah Newton (Colchester, Conn.) both scored three times, senior Gianna Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) won 10 draws and junior Kyana Alvarado (Westfield, Mass.) forced a team-high four caused turnovers for the Pride. Junior Haley Moody (Wells, Maine) made eight saves in the loss.  For O'Connor, she capped off a historic 2023 campaign with a single-season program record total for goals with 67, besting Shelby Corsano's previous record of 64 that occurred in 2018. 

Evans registered four goals in the opening quarter to help the Green and White build a 4-2 lead a little over 11 minutes into the game. Junior Maddie Roy (Wilbraham, Mass.) scored and then set up O'Connor's second tally 64 seconds later to make it 4-4 with 1:51 to go in the first, and Springfield took its first lead on a free-position strike by sophomore Isabella Mazzi (Niantic, Conn.) with 10:22 to go in the second.

Newton followed up a free-position tally by Beavers' senior Claudia Dodge with back-to-back goals to give the Pride a 7-5 lead at the half. Connolly capped a three-goal spurt that gave Babson an 8-7 advantage with 4:11 left in the third but Newton struck back 53 seconds later completing her hat trick to forge the fifth tie of the game.

The Green and White took over from there as Jayne forced a turnover and then buried a free-position chance with 2:04 left in the stanza and Curtis got the board following another turnover 56 seconds later to spark a six-goal run. Evans notched Babson's third man-up goal of the contest 12 seconds into the fourth and then followed up Blake's tally with another free-position strike to make it 13-8 with 5:37 remaining.

The Beavers outshot the Pride 33-25, while both teams finished with 18 ground balls and 14 draw controls.
 
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